Towns need new police cost deal: CAO

INNISFIL/BWG — Innisifl has been overpaying for police service by about $1 million per year under an agreement with Bradford West Gwillimbury, the town’s top bureaucrat says.
A formula in that 15-year-old agreement needs to be reworked if the municipalities continue to share South Simcoe Police, CAO John Skorobohacz told council Dec. 19.
“It’s significant and frankly unsettling,” Skorobohacz said. “One would think that you are paying proportionately — that you are paying your fair share.”
Skorobohacz is calling for a new formula based on the “actual consumption” of police services using crime statistics.
The current formula uses population, the number of households and tax assessment to divide the costs, with Innisfil paying about $8.7 million last year compared to BWG’s $6.6 million annual cost.
Skorobohacz released the report during a special meeting held to hear the results of a citizens police review committee report. The committee found survey results from about 190 respondents showed a near split on the question of whether Innisfil should consider being policed under the OPP.
But the revelation that Innisfil may have been subsidizing police services for BWG for at least the last five years dominated the discussion.
Skorobohacz said the formula review is based purely on a “rudimentary analysis of statistics” and does not take actual investigation time into account.
For instance, there was a homicide in Gilford in August 2011, which would have required significant resources dedicated to Innisfil’s portion.
“In fairness, I can’t give you a 100 per cent guarantee of the true costs,” Skorobohacz said.
The CAO recommended council hire a policing consultant to analysis the actual charges laid by South Simcoe Police in a year and estimate costs based on those investigations.
“We still stand behind this but a (consultant) would give you a far better analysis,” he said. “It’s clear that the (current) formula does not reflect that actual consumption of the (police) services.”
Meanwhile, BWG is awaiting an OPP costing that will show how much the provincial force will charge to police that municipality on its own.
The OPP costing was to be revealed to BWG council Dec. 18, but that public meeting was cancelled at the last minute by the OPP.
Innisfil is also expected to ask for a costing based on the South Simcoe Police’s current service levels, which is supported by the police review public survey.
Innisfil could pay about $4 million less a year for the OPP based on a contract that force has with New Tecumseth.
However, the OPP costing process also appears to be under review following a provincial auditor general’s report released this year, which suggests the provincial force needs to change the way it estimates costs.
“The auditor general has a number of concerns and I think the OPP themselves will be stepping back from the costings for six to nine months,” Skorobohacz said.
Council will receive another report on the OPP costing issue and the South Simcoe Police cost sharing next month.